Pinkwash is a band born of heartbreak. When its members — Ashley Arnwines and Joey Doubek — were playing under their old moniker Ingrid, Doubek’s mother was undergoing cancer treatment. During that time, Ingrid’s momentum petered out and eventually disappeared, though neither of its members stopped frequenting the Northeastern bedrooms and basements that they were known to play in. (You can read more about that time in a 2014 issue of The Media).

Arnwine and Doubek eventually reemerged with a new project called Pinkwash. The name refers to the pharmaceutical-industrial complex; the pink ribbons used to market products with the promise that some undisclosed percentage will go to “cancer research.” That’s often a false promise, an effort to capitalize on well-meaning folks determined to do something by consuming. When my mom had breast cancer, she kept the sympathy cards and threw all of the pale pink plastic shit in the trash. In turn, she bought the book Pink Ribbons, Inc. and fell headfirst into the endless, depressing void that is cause-based marketing.

There are a lot of people who will identify with a band like Pinkwash based on their name alone. They’re politically inclined, but driven by intense, personal motivations. Activism runs in their blood; though Pinkwash is considered a Philly-based band now, both Arnwine and Doubek hail from D.C. Pinkwash will release their debut LP, Collective Sigh, next month, which follows last year’s Cancer Money 7″. “Metastatic” is Pinkwash’s latest single, which initiates with an impossibly good riff that wouldn’t sound unwelcome on PWR BTTM’s 2015 release Ugly Cherries. It’s an impulsive, beautiful punk song. Listen below.

Collective Sigh is out 5/13 via Don Giovanni. Pre-order it here.